When I was in Paris, from February 2010 to December 2011, I had the sincere joy of working with and befriending the Paris bureau chief of Russian news agency TASS. Founded in 1904 under Czar Nicholas II, who was executed by the Soviets in 1918, the news agency now publishes in Russian and English and has a global readership.

I enjoyed my conversations with Dimitri. We playfully noted that we were meeting on “neutral” ground and emerging as friends whose countries had been separated by the Cold War. During one of our conversations, he shared Russian lore with me: Stalin used to rely on the TASS editor for daily reports on the US stock market. When the editor decided that such capitalistic information should no longer be part of his reports, Stalin fired him. He followed the market’s performance to assess the strength of the US economy.

As painful and expensive as the Cold War was—and this post by no means minimizes the oppression and murders under the Soviet regime—it is often said that, at the very least, the West knew who and where its enemy was.

Today, as Al Queda and ISIS fight for power, as terrorists emerge in villages and cities around the world, the war on terror has no bounds. We cannot define or isolate it. Officials are saying that we need to consider the war as part of normal life. Like crime, it will continue. Moreover, the global war is not only being fought with guns and dynamite but also via the Internet. Just yesterday, hackers claiming allegiance to the Islamic State took control of the social media accounts of the U.S. military’s Central Command.

For these reasons, I offer “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” from Tears for Fears’ 1985 album Songs from the Big Chair, which achieved multiplatinum states in the UK and the US. Band founders Roland Orazabal and Curt Smith reissued the album this past September.

Welcome to your life
There’s no turning back
Even while we sleep
We will find you

Acting on your best behavior
Turn your back on mother nature
Everybody wants to rule the world

It’s my own desire
It’s my own remorse
Help me to decide
Help me make the most

Of freedom and of pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world

There’s a room where the light won’t find you
Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down
When they do I’ll be right behind you

So glad we’ve almost made it
So sad they had to fade it
Everybody wants to rule the world

I can’t stand this indecision
Married with a lack of vision
Everybody wants to rule the world
Say that you’ll never never never never need it
One headline why believe it ?
Everybody wants to rule the world

All for freedom and for pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world

–Sally O’Dowd is a former journalist who has founded Sally On Media, a company providing business strategy and integrated marketing services.

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Sally-Ann O'Dowd

Sally-Ann O'Dowd is a multimedia content marketer and publicist with 15 years of international corporate experience. She recently moved from New York City to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., so she could swim more. Contact her at sally@sallyonmedia.net or +1.917.477.9566 if you'd like to discuss how to raise your brand awareness.